Technocracy Inc.

Lois M. Scheel

1989

Published in:

• Section 3 Newsletter, March 1989, No. 67

During one episode in Voltaire's comedy classic, Candide, his main character came upon a strange land called Eldorado where gold meant nothing to its inhabitants, prisons were unknown, and a palace of science filled with mathematical and scientific instruments replaced "royal" ballyhoo and idol worshiping. No lawyers or courts of law threatened the populace as there was no need for them. Because the citizens of Eldorado enjoyed a decent standard of living, they readily adapted to their environment. But Candide believed that if he returned to the best of all possible worlds, he could buy his way back to his lost lady love with the gold and diamonds that lay in abundance in Eldorado and were his for the taking. In a land where citizens shared the resources, there was no use for such trinkets. The good king of Eldorado didn't try to detain Candide but bid his scientists and engineers to build him something for transportation that fitted his needs in order to overcome treacherous mountain passes. Once Candide returned to the best of all possible worlds where everything happens for a good reason, his gold and diamonds lured the most unsavory characters who robbed him at every turn.

By the time Candide found his beloved Cunegonde, she had aged beyond belief from trying to cope in an anti-social environment, and he found himself considerably less prosperous. Yet they married and lived out their lives in this best of all possible worlds, ignoring the security offered them in the land of Eldorado. Things aren't much different today.

Voltaire exposed the hypocrisy of his times over 200 years ago. If he foresaw the importance of government by science before the technological revolution, why is it taking the citizens living in the midst of this revolution so long to wake up? They are surrounded by technology that enhances their lives every day of the year from preserving food to bringing instant services in travel, communication and entertainment. They take these marvels for granted, ignoring the fact that today's social problems, by force of circumstances, must one day yield to scientific solutions just as food preservation, travel, communication and entertainment problems were solved and improved upon through the use of scientific study and implementation.

Citizens will go into a trance of ecstasy when listening to a presidential contender making promises he knows he can't keep; his constituency should recognize this deceit if they have any sense of history. But the more the politician bleats out what his sheep want to hear, the better are his chances of keeping his lucrative job. And his sheep want to believe that everything that happens, good or bad, is not only inevitable in this best of all possible worlds but necessary--this in the face of irrefutable scientific evidence to the contrary--so they go on, naively planning for the past while enjoying today's technological advancements.

Until the last few decades, social customs more or less directed citizens' lives from birth to death according to gender. Baby girls wore pink. Baby boys wore blue. Girls were made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Boys were made of snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. Little girls emulated their mothers while little boys were expected to walk in their father's footsteps. Primers pictured little girls impeccably dressed in frills and button shoes, playing with dolls and dishes and cookware in preparation for their adult life. Little boys were pictured with smudged faces and hands, playing ball, down on their knees shooting marbles, or helping dad with strictly male chores, also in preparation for their adult life. Early primers gave credence to the "everything nice" and "snakes and snails and puppy dog tails" jingle.

Providing for the family fell to the man. Caring for the household became the woman's lot, and if she wasn't respectably married by her 20th birthday, considers her an old maid. The euphemism of bachelor attached to unmarried men gave them a certain distinction. Biological juices turned on at the sound of "eligible bachelor." Never for "eligible old maid." Such was custom deeply instilled in past generations.

Then along came the biggest fund raiser of all times that changed our lives: World War II. Not only did sweet prosperity come to many people who had never tasted it before, but also it was the beginning of women's lib. They were needed in factories to boost the war effort. For many it was a first out-of-home job. They earned as much as $30 a week while our gallant young warriors, the cream of the crop, fought and risked life and limb for $30 a month. (And those who provided the war got rich.) Few of these participants knew what the war was all about. Fill them full of patriotic propaganda, and they'll follow you anywhere. Besides, the new breed of workers rejoiced at the prospect of earning all that money.

Studs Terkel, in his oral history of World War II, called it The Good War. (Technocracy calls it capitalizing on calamity.) Prosperity reigned for some. While we sold arms and munitions to Germany and scrap metal to Japan, some of it came back to us in the bodies of our dead and wounded. Funeral establishments and coffin makers thrived. And there actually are human byproducts of that unconscionable period in time who long for the "Good War" again.

After World War II, women stayed in the work force. They traded their frills for designer jeans. But prosperity is once again disappearing around the corner. It often takes both mom and pop working in order to survive. Now we have single parent households, unmarried men and women sharing the same household, babies out of wedlock and marriage seem to be going out of style, customs is damned. "Old maids" have come into their own- -the single woman.

Jonathan Swift in his delightful spoof on the times, Gulliver's Travels, pointed out that thousands of people would rather suffer death than dishonor the edict put out by the emperor of Lilliput on breaking the smaller end of the eggs first; this edict came about after the emperor cut his finger once while breaking the egg on the larger end first. But is this fictional tale so far fetched? Only a few years back peace talks couldn't get started because the participants had trouble reaching a decision on the proper shape of the conference table: Should it be round, oblong, rectangular, L- shaped, U-shaped...decisions, decisions. And today important political decisions are still being discussed--and occasionally made. Should the banana slug be made the official state mollusk in California? In Florida the House voted to make key lime pie the official state pie. The Massachusetts House has passed and sent to the Senate a measure naming the tabby cat the official cat of the commonwealth. Let's hope the various legislatures act on these vital issues.

Meanwhile, back in the real world...financial insecurity and joblessness spawn family fights, child and spouse abuse, divorce and sometimes homicide.

An unbalanced work load causes frustration on our crowded freeways, occasionally resulting in shooting sprees. Some of the best hours of our lives are wasted, sitting in traffic jams.

We still have no coordinated Continent-wide transportation system (including transport by waterway, rail, air, roadway and pipeline), and even the magnetic levitated train, invented by American scientists in the 60s, is being built in both Japan and Germany while America procrastinates. Why? Could it be because of pressure from powerful oil and motor vehicle companies that sabotaged electronic trolley busses years ago so they could get their polluting, energy guzzling vehicles rolling?

Disregarding the danger to our diminishing resources, we continue to condone planned obsolescence. Some of our scientists are prostituted to discovering new methods of obsolescence to keep our best of all possible worlds afloat. Even the simple pencil thrives on planned obsolescence. How many times have you sharpened a pencil to a desired point, then settled down to write only to have a large chunk of lead fall out at the first touch to you paper? By the time you resharpen the pencil, a sizable portion of it disappears. And light bulbs...now we can purchase long-lasting ones--for a high price. The first light bulbs were long lasting. Easy on resources but not good for business. Then we have our sabotaged tires, razor blades, nylons, electrical equipment...Technocracy calls it petty larceny on a grand scale.

Educational systems have become political, financial institutions that make it difficult for many of our youth to receive a higher education. And if they do have that diploma in hand, what are their prospects for coping in a technological age? Most of them don't receive intelligent counseling; they are given too many unnecessary subjects, conveniently called "a rounded education" in which they are required to learn a little in each one. This naturally detracts from their main goal. Textbooks are updated more often than is necessary to keep the money rolling in with no concern for wasted resources, and their cost is prohibitive. And speaking of textbooks was this "rounded education" curriculum dreamed up in order to sell more of them? And the one important subject seldom taught is the impact of technology on social trends.

Most of the teachers aren't qualified to teach such a subject. Many of our college educated citizens, some with families, are now living on the streets. Many of our youth feel there is no future for them, resulting in increased crime, suicides and drug abuse.

We can't feed our hungry yet excess food is stored or destroyed to keep prices up. We can't provide shelter for our homeless yet rentals stand idle for lack of tenants with enough money to pay the high price of a roof overhead. Technology replaces jobs but creates a surplus of goods and services that machines haven't been programmed to buy. Our largest welfare recipients are the United States military, politicians, and business and farm subsidies, yet we crack down on the poor who are jobless or underpaid through no fault of their own. Clearly our distribution system is not effective. And now we are being threatened with a breakout of peace on all fronts. How will we handle the resultant unemployed? The list of social problems goes on and on.

The technological equipment necessary to enhance our lives further and insure us a decent standard of living is already installed. The technicians needed to operate this equipment are available. In fact, they are keeping us alive today in spite of the interference of politics and money. Without this interference we could solve both our environmental and distribution problems.

Technocracy's Technological Social Design has been ready for installation for almost 60 years, but most people won't take the time to investigate it. They prefer clinging to the best of all possible worlds instead of opting for an Eldorado of our times-- the North American Technate.

Over 200 years have gone by since Voltaire envisioned a government by science. Today the technological impact on our social system is much more severe, and Homo sapiens are the most corrosive animal of all. We don't have another 200 years for political blustering and indecision. We must soon learn to govern ourselves intelligently, using our advanced technology for construction instead of destruction, or our youth may prove to be correct: There won't be a future for them.